Framing Your Communication to Inspire and Convince

This course will soon be retired. Last day to enroll is 03/10/2023.

In order to be effective, leaders need a high tolerance of complexity. Beyond this, they need to inform their people and the outside world of their strategies, policies and decisions. Effective leaders are often inspiring communicators - their own high tolerance of complexity helps them reduce this complexity to a concise and powerful message. This course introduces the sensemaking mindset.

Your sensemaking mindset is of critical importance in motivating others to follow and support you. Your communication ability to inspire and convince is largely dependent on the way you frame your message, and on your skills at playing the game of framing and reframing. You will learn from a large variety of (video) cases and analyze a large number of situations where leaders' communication and sensemaking skills are tested and probed.

The course is designed so that you are introduced to communication by reviewing public figures and politicians to bring awareness to communication techniques. Then you will see the same techniques being utilized with public figures in the engineering field. This enables you to visualize how to best utilize these communication techniques in your career successfully.

Upon completion of this course you will be introduced to the sensemaking mindset, and will have learned how to use framing essentials, debating methods and pitching methods, in order to frame your communication to your team and supervisor. This will ensure that you are equipped to build winning coalitions in your own organization.

Get started with communicating effectively

Week 1. Pitching methods: Inclusive and exclusive pitching
Inclusive and exclusive pitching

Week 2. Framing essentials
The main characteristics of framing
The impact of framing
Apply on global warming

Week 3. Debating methods: Framing models for debating
Victims, Villains and Heroes
The 3P model - Policy, Principles and Personality
Apply on overhead power lines
Application of debating methods
Leadership in practice: Managers about the communicative mindset

Week 4. Creating a dilemma: convincing stakeholders
Sharing and transcending a dilemma
Political oxymorons
Creating a monopoly of emotion
Application of creating a dilemma

Week 5. Apply to your Situation and Next Steps
Wrap-up
Leadership in practice: Managers about the communicative mindset
Framing your communication